Curious issue

[CarterD2015]

My buddy went to Decatur swap meet this weekend and brought home what he says is a numbers matching 71 c10 long bed with a 350. The curious thing to me is that it is a leaf spring truck. I was under the impression that all half ton two wheel drive Chevys were trail arm and that gmc, and 4wd were leaf. I didn’t ask him to send me a pic of the inside of the glovebox door. He is happy with the truck and I’m happy for him. I was just curious if Chevy made a 1/2 ton leaf spring truck.

[72 tigger]

Yes they did, it was a option, one of mine has them

[CarterD2015]

Thx for the reply. I didn’t know that was an option. That is why I wanted to see the glovebox door to see but didn’t want to ask him for a pic.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Chevy option leaf spring example. From a boat launching hitch to a 5th wheel and stepbumper, the original owner thought his 402 SWB would make the perfect recreational vehicle

[68 P.O.S.]

Chevys generally had trailing arms as standard and leafs as an option. GMCs were the opposite. Also, there is no "numbers matching" for these trucks. GM didn't keep track of engines in trucks, so there are no numbers to match. By running the numbers on the block, you can determine if its the correct engine for the truck, but not if its the actual engine that came in the truck.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by 68 P.O.S.

Chevys generally had trailing arms as standard and leafs as an option. GMCs were the opposite. Also, there is no "numbers matching" for these trucks. GM didn't keep track of engines in trucks, so there are no numbers to match. By running the numbers on the block, you can determine if its the correct engine for the truck, but not if its the actual engine that came in the truck.

By some measure I disagree about numbers matching, though you're not exactly wrong either. Nearly everything I pulled off my project with a date stamp shows April 1971, which is a month before the build date May 1971. That and period correct stamped part numbers. Among other parts that includes the block, intake and transmission. That and the frame is stamped with the serial number.

So yeah, you can never prove some of those are original parts, but with that kind of consistency, period correct and that..........IMO that's numbers "matching".

[notsolo]

I also have a 71 LWB with the G50 Heavy spring option, secondary overload springs on top of regular set.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by 68 P.O.S.

Chevys generally had trailing arms as standard and leafs as an option. GMCs were the opposite. Also, there is no "numbers matching" for these trucks. GM didn't keep track of engines in trucks, so there are no numbers to match. By running the numbers on the block, you can determine if its the correct engine for the truck, but not if its the actual engine that came in the truck.

And that is numbers matching with the trucks. Maybe not to a car guy, but to a truck guy it applies. Not all the numbers that cars use, and the engine could still be from another truck, but there is a "correct engine" for every truck and the code to verify that. After all these years that says something, even if the previous owner scoured the earth to put the correct suffix code engine back in or to directly replace a bad block. Obviously this truck is not pure stock, but nice to see them survive with the original drivetrain it left the plant with OR was previously owned by someone keeping correct suffix code mattered to. Speaks volumes in my book.

As mentioned in Post#6 there are many date coded components in these trucks other than engine.

[Speedracer39]

RHere’s my leaf spring truck 1/2 ton short bed